Hiking

Today we went hiking. We have great mountains about 20 minutes away from our house so we decided to take advantage of them this morning. There is something about getting my children out in nature that brings our their talkative selves. Cooper ( 7 yrs. old) had some great one liners this morning. We had just started our hike around the lake and Coop announced, " hey mom that rock has a secret code on it." Now really it was graffiti but heck in our family it turned into a secret code. So darling. He just puts a smile in my heart. Ya know what i mean? Then a little bit later we saw a clover, and Horton Hears a Who has been on a bunch at our house, and I said," is there a speck on it? What if we live on a speck, on a clover?" Then Jeff (my husband) said," What if an elephant is carrying us through the forest?" Coop was quiet for a few seconds then responded," Well if we are on a speck Jesus is carrying it." Wow!! Those are the comments that make me want to cry. Sometimes I do but I've learned to suck it in as Cooper calls it. Still my heart is so delighted that God gives us moments that say," you're doing it right."

Well about half way through the hike we realized Coop was done so him and Jeff turned around and Savi and I continued. See Cooper got a new big boy watch last night that is water proof. He could no wait to take that watch on its maiden voyage into the lake. His watch also has a stop watch which I want to be excited about but some times its annoying. to be honest. All last night it was, "mom let me time you drinking your cranberry juice." " Dad let me time how long it takes you to walk from the clock to the couch" "Let me time how long it takes to drive there" " mom it took me 9:09 to eat my frozen yogurt." " I'm gonna time how long we take to eat lunch." If you haven't gotten the idea yet I could keep going. But to tell you the truth it delights my heart that he is delighted by his new watch. I pray that I delight God by enjoying the gifts He gives me like Cooper does from me. I pray that I linger longer with the gifts God gives instead of being quick to move to the next one.

Anyway back to Savanna and I. She lead the rest of the hike. And man is she part billy goat. She just is surefooted and quick. I am much more cautious than her. Could be my age but mostly I'm just clumsy and uncoordinated. Anyway she didn't once put her headphones in she just chatted with me. We talked about her work, and dreamed of camping trips and hiking to come. But what i noticed and delighted in was she would scale a down hill or bounce up an up hill but she would turn and keep an eye on me. Ready to help if needed and at that moment I felt like such a loved mommy. Even typing it my eyes are welled up. At 17 yrs old she has so much going on yet she still keeps her eye on me. Thank you Lord!! Blessed doesn't do justice to how I feel.

We had a great time together as a family this morning. It took almost no time planning and almost no money and fun was had by all. I tend to get caught in the everything is so expensive rut. But today god reminded me that His creation is Free for me to use and enjoy. I love that He gives good gifts.